Oscar Wilde famously remarked, “that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” For LaBeouf— who once walked the red carpet donning a paper bag with the words “I am not famous anymore” and has gone through several up and downs since leaving his mainstream Hollywood career behind—his latest project speaks to the latter, but also sounds like an intense self-examination. “Honey Boy”—directed by up-and-comer Alma Har’el and written by LaBeouf himself—is extremely personal and potentially painful. Like LaBeouf is want to do these days—no half measures—”Honey Boy” is essentially the actor’s own story about his experiences as a young boy struggling to be an actor and the toxic relationship he had with his stage-manager father—whom LaBeouf stars as no less!
Here’s the official synopsis:
From a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, based on his own experiences, award-winning filmmaker Alma Har’el brings to life a young actor’s stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father through cinema and dreams. Fictionalizing his childhood’s ascent to stardom, and subsequent adult crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har’el casts Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the daring and therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. Artist and musician FKA twigs makes her feature-film debut, playing neighbor and kindred spirit to the younger Otis in their garden-court motel home. Har’el’s feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as therapy and imagination as hope.
Alongside LaBeouf playing his own father, Natasha Lyonne (“Orange Is the New Black” and “Russian Doll”) plays the mother. They are joined by Noah Jupe—the son in the frighteningly-fantastic “A Quiet Place” and Jacob Tremblay’s conflicted friend in “Wonder”—who plays the younger version of the child actor. Meanwhile, Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea” and “Boy Erased,” respectively) plays the child actor at an older age. Musician FKA twigs makes her feature-film acting debut in the movie and Maika Monroe (“It Follows” and “Independence Day: Resurgence”) fills out the cast.
The film—distributed by Amazon Studios—is set to be released on November 8. Check out the trailer below. JUST DO IT!
